Last year, in an effort to convince a major Canadian grocer to move away from some of the most cruel methods of raising animals, Calgary Co-op member Clint Robertson brought forward a motion that read: “That Calgary Co-op phase out the sale of eggs and pork sourced from intensive confinement cages (sow / gestation stalls & battery cages) within the next three years, since this type of intensive confinement has been widely viewed as inhumane, and that in the interim Calgary Co-op work with suppliers to find alternatives not sourced from these types of intensive confinement cages.”

The motion was amended from three years to five years, but otherwise approved overwhelmingly in a members vote at the March 2013 AGM. This vote received so much publicity in the media and on social networks that most people believed that the Co-op had already acted on the motion. However, to be implemented, the motion had to be approved by the Calgary Co-op Board of Directors – with a report to members on the issue to be delivered at the March 10, 2014 AGM.

Yet, during this year’s AGM, no commitment to the phase-out was offered. Instead, the Chair simply reported that the Co-op had introduced a new line of “more humane” pork and that the Co-op would gauge consumer reaction to this new product and go from there. Eggs were not even mentioned. When asked if the Co-op was committed to a phase out, the Chair simply responded that she “could not say”. 

In addition to failing to act on the vote of its members who overwhelmingly demand a phase out of caged eggs and pork, the Co-op also clearly appears to ignore animal welfare concerns, having only taken a symbolic action by adding a “new line” of pork products and likely hoping that the issue will die away.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

If you believe that the Co-op is not acting in the best interest of its members and not fulfilling its commitment to animal welfare as stated recently by CEO Deane Collinson  in an article from Canadian Grocer,  contact the Board of Directors and express your discontentment at the Co-op lack of commitment towards farm animal welfare.

Please email your letter to governance@calgarycoop.com or mail it to:

Calgary Co-operative Association Limited
110, 151 86th Avenue SE, Calgary, AB T2H 3A5

Thank you for standing with us for Canadian farmed animals.